Civic Pride in a Lost America: Library Postcards
Public Libraries of Mississippi
Aberdeen (Evans Memorial Library)
Biloxi
AKA The Creole Cottage. Built in 1924, this building was replaced in 1975.
E.C. Kropp cards sometimes have the subject protrude into the white border. It can be an attractive quirk.
Grenada
Captioned:
Community House and Public Library, Grenada, Mississippi, U.S.O. Center.
According to Grenada 2007, this was founded in 1929. The WPA helped it along in 1934-1936, building this edifice that was replaced in 1989 with a similar building in homage.
Hattiesburg
Metropolitan card.
The library building is no longer in use. The newer building is pretty spectacular.
Laurel (Lauren Rogers Library)
Interior and exterior of the Library (and Museum of Art).
The library has changed to a special library function. The Laurel-Jones County Library now serves the populace.
Long Beach
This plucky library is a survivor. The Big Fire of 1923 burned it. The temporary library housed in a packing shed, also burned, wiping out its new collection. It didn't reopen until 1940.
Mercifully spared by Hurricane Camille, it survived intact until 2003, when the Children's Wing was added. Then, Hurricane Katrina essentially destroyed it in 2005. A collection was restored by North Carolina librarians' effort.
Snazzy chrome postcard by H.S. Crocker.
Yazoo City (B.S. Ricks Memorial Library)
(L) This self-framed postcard, mistakenly captioned 'Carnegie Library Building, was used by Chicago's Alfred Holzman Company to tout its wares. I was only able to identify it correctly in comparison to the other postcard.
(R) Chrome postcard by Colorama.
Library service began in 1838: this building was built ca. 1900 and is still in use. The Library's web site is amusingly snarky.
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